The fan who has been following the clubs of the Club World Cup must have noticed the prevalence of sports betting companies in a prominent place in the uniforms. Of the 32 participating teams, nine (about 30%) print the logo of a Bet as a master sponsor on the front of the shirts.
The six South Americans-Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, River Plate and Boca Juniors-are sponsored by Bets, as well as Monterrey, Mexico, Porto, Portugal, and Inter Milan, from Italy.
According to experts, Bets bet on global exhibition to attract customers to a still relatively new market, while injecting money and helping to leverage financially balanced clubs.
Travel and tourism companies follow, with sponsorship to six teams (18.8%), all European, except Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami from the United States. Telecommunications (four), cars (three), financial services (two) and drinks (two) then appear among the main sponsors.
Consultant and professor at FAAP (Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation), José Sarkis Arakelian stated that the online betting market is characterized by the very low differentiation of products and services, which makes companies have to look for alternatives in the market to draw the attention of customers.
“The user experience is always very similar. It is an almost ‘commodized’ service and the consumer sees little differentiation in the tangible aspect, which makes companies work hard focused on intangible, which is the brand concept, confidence, familiarity with the target audience.”
Arakelian added that in the case of major Europeans in the competition, such as PSG, Real Madrid and Manchester City, the sponsorships – for Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways, respectively – are from large Arab airlines that have the support of their countries’ governments to attract visibility to the regions.
“These are different levels. At the highest level are the so-called companies-states, which turn to the largest global brands,” said the FAAP professor.
According to him, although Brazilian teams do not have the same financial power as the first European echelon, they can already equate to those who make up the second shelf in Europe.
“As Brazilian teams have more revenues and offer higher compensation, they start to attract and retain more talents. Many players who, until a while ago, would go to the European market, started playing in Brazil.”
After Flamengo’s 3-1 win over Chelsea, the red-black coach Filipe Luís expressed a similar view. “I believe there is an elite in football, where eight or ten clubs in the world are part. And they are much superior. Apart from this elite, I believe Brazilians are at the same level of this second European level because we have to compete, understand the game, used to playing in various types of lawn, altitude.”
Called consultancy estimates indicate that, driven by bookmakers, the master sponsorship values of the 20 Serie A teams are expected to reach R $ 988 million by 2025, a 70% growth compared to the previous year.
According to estimates of Alexandre Fonseca, CEO of Superbet, sponsor of Fluminense, the sector should move about $ 2 billion in sponsorship and advertising in the sport in 2025, including master contracts with clubs, naming rights of championships and arenas, media quotas and presence in plates and led panels.
“This cycle of financial and technical strengthening explains the performance on the pitch in the United States, overcoming European favorites and showing that Brazil has returned to play with the world elite,” said Fonseca.
Arakelian stressed that BETS money contributes to the formation of competitive casts and sports results on the pitch, but emphasized that investment alone, without being accompanied by improvements in management and governance, is not able to do all the work.
An example cited is Corinthians, also sponsored by a Bet, but far from rival Palmeiras as the protagonist of Brazilian football in the last decade.
“Sanited teams take advantage of capital to invest in the cast and generate results, while others take this money to pay for the past mistakes.”
Partner and analyst at Nord Investimentos, Victor Bueno added that, even with one of the biggest sponsorship contracts in Brazilian football, Corinthians lives “very delicate” situation. This is because it does not only involve the size of the debt, which approaches the house of $ 3 billion, but also the club’s ability to honor its commitments.
“Corinthians does not have the ability to pay this debt in the short and possibly nor in the long run. And if there is no factor of finance management, most likely the team will end up in bad sheets,” said Bueno.
Investment company partner and chief economist TCP Partners, Ricardo Jacomassi said the reconstruction work of a club involves restructuring financial, accounting and heritage management and the implementation of professional boards.
“This whole change has favored some clubs, which have become a mirror for smaller access leagues teams. One case is Bragantino, who, after the acquisition by Red Bull, made an unprecedented transformation and became a reference for smaller clubs,” said Jacomassi.
Sports Marketing Consultant and Insper Professor Eduardo Cork stated that well -structured clubs have greater potential to attract strong sponsors, expand recipes and create the conditions to invest in infrastructure such as training centers and stadiums, as well as competitive casts.
“Of course none of this guarantees immediate sports success, but greatly increases the likelihood of achieving good results. And when these results appear, they create opportunity to participate in international tournaments, feeding this cycle with more visibility, awards and new business opportunities.”
Economist and partner of the summoned consultancy, Cesar Grafietti considered that there is no single way to follow by the clubs.
“Palmeiras and Flamengo have a very balanced financial condition, high revenues and controlled debts, while Botafogo is a SAF with little transparency, from a multiclub network whose French asset is in trouble, and no one knows the real financial situation,” said Grafietti.
In the case of Fluminense, the team lives primarily of sporadic values, such as athletes’ awards and transfers, but deals with high debts.
“In the end, we have three business models, which only shows that field performance is often just a reflection of good cast management. And for that there is no rule: clubs can have high recipes, investment that invest or clubs that spend and get debt.”
